It is likely that Delany grew up in this part of inner city Dublin, known as The Liberties, as his father's business was later located on nearby Crane Street.

[6] There is evidence of Delanys residing in Tinnakill, a rural area near Raheen in County Laois, where the Perry family owned substantial quantities of land.

In 1799, Italian luthier, Vincenzo Panormo, came to Dublin and spent a few years working for Perry during the latter part of Delany's apprenticeship.

[9][10] During those years, Perry's workshop was located at 6 Anglesea Street in Dublin, but Delany does not appear to have worked from this address for much of his apprenticeship.

[11] It is also likely that as an established cabinet maker, Delany maintained his own premises throughout his apprenticeship as a luthier and worked from there primarily, only requiring part-time guidance from his mentor.

By 1814, Delany had moved premises to 31 Great Britain Street, where his business would remain for the rest of his working life.

Delany died in 1838, at which time Compton was successor to the business and continued to operate out of 31 Great Britain Street.

Some of his earlier instruments were based on the Stainer model and have a dull brown varnish and wide F-holes with exaggerated styling, typical of the early Irish school.

[17] It is possible that Delany was also influenced by Panormo's style during his time spent working at the Perry firm, which was also of the Amati school.

William Meredith Morris, who published the book British Violin Makers, Delany's instruments were "well made" and produced a "clear and sweet tone".

[3] His short labels typically follow the standard format of maker, place and year, for example: 'Made by John Delany, No.17 Britain Street, Dublin, 1808'.

[22] The book tells the story of a widower, Liam O'Callaghan, who is a violinist and purveyor of Irish traditional music.

As the first part of the inscription was almost certainly a call by the maker to be remembered after his death, Liam often wondered if Delany would be pleased to hear the music that he and his father had played by his creation.

Liam had also always loved the second message on the instrument and as a young boy had made an enquiry with his father as to why the maker had placed an inscription expressing such implicit sentiments on the back of the violin [...] It was inconceivable, his father had told him, that Delany could not have been aware of the ending of the Atlantic slave trade the previous year by the British Government and the brutal continuance of the institution of slavery that still existed in the maker’s world.

[6] This strong sense of nationalism was typical of Irishmen of the time and likely influenced by the growing republican movement in 18th-century Ireland that culminated in the 1798 Rebellion.

Two of Delany's violins are preserved in the National Museum of Ireland as part of a collection of musical instruments by Irish makers.